How We Can Get Submarines to Travel at Supersonic Speed

Axisymmetric ventilated supercavitation: ventilation increases and cavitation index decreases from top to bottom. Cavitation and Bubbly Flows Research Group , University of Minnesota

Chinese researchers say they are developing technology that would allow submarines to travel more than 750 mph. That’s faster than commercial aircraft fly, and yes, it is possible.

The technology is called supercavitation, and it’s been around for decades. The idea is to increase the speed of an object like, say, a submarine or torpedo by creating a bubble around it, reducing drag as it moves through the water. The nose of the vehicle typically is designed to create the bubble, and gas often is used to shape the bubble. The Soviets used this trick on the Shkval torpedo in the 1960s and ’70s; it was capable of 230 mph but for no more than a few miles.

Obviously, the concept is proven. But there are practical problems. “The devil is in the details,” says Dr. Roger Arndt, a University of Minnesota professor who works with the university’s terrifically named Cavitation and Bubbly Flows Research Group.

One of the stickiest wickets is steering a submerged craft that has little in the way of control surfaces in the water. A traditional submarine is controlled by a rudder, much like a conventional boat. Steering a supercavitating vessel requires having control planes pierce the bubble, producing great drag. These planes also would be under tremendous force and pressure at speed, and would need to be extraordinarily strong.

Another challenge: High speeds (for underwater travel) are required to maintain the bubble, perhaps around 45mph, though it would depend greatly on the size and design of the ship. It’s tricky just to reach a speed where a bubble can be created in the first place. So even if the Chinese researchers, at Harbin Institute of Technology’s Complex Flow and Heat Transfer Lab, have made a breakthrough in supercavitation, the limits of standard underwater propulsion will hold them back—especially if they want to make a real submarine. An underwater rocket capable of giving a supercavitating vessel long range doesn’t exist yet. Building a small torpedo is one thing, building a submarine capable of crossing the Pacific is quite another.

A wedge-shaped fin partially piercing a supercavity. Note the partial cavity forming from the leading edge of the fin. Cavitation and Bubbly Flows Research Group , University of Minnesota

The Chinese researchers told the South China Morning Post they have developed a liquid membrane that tackles both issues. Continuously sprayed on, it would reduce drag and help get the vessel up to speed. The membrane could allow various amounts of friction to be applied to different sides of the ship, creating a steering effect. “By combining liquid-membrane technology with supercavitation, we can significantly reduce the launch challenges and make cruising control easier,” Professor Li Fengchen says.

Details on the new developments are scarce, however. “It’s a quantum leap to making a supersonic submarine,” says Arndt. “What they’re showing doesn’t give an inkling of what technology they’ve got.”

Whatever the Chinese team does have in pocket, it’s not the only one working on the idea of underwater supersonic travel. Arndt says Iran and Russia are among the many countries doing research, along with the American crew at the University of Minnesota. “Everybody is getting in on the act.”

So it may be a while before you clamber into a submarine for a quick trip to Shanghai, but the idea isn’t too far fetched, either.

Predictive Analytics: Potential Cure for What Ails the American Economy?

lumaxart/Flickr

The way we hire and manage employees in America is fundamentally broken. Not only are unemployment rates still high in most cities, but approximately 32 percent of the current unemployed population has been unemployed for seven months or longer. Many people believe these long term unemployed workers no longer fit in today’s workplace, but they are wrong. To combat this issue the White House just unveiled new legislation for getting America back to work with the recent signing of the Workforce Innovation and Employment Act. Key to this initiative is taking action against the human biases and “skills gap” separating many unemployed workers from the companies that could hire them. As part of the President’s initiative, 300 corporations have pledged to change hiring practices that discriminate against the long term unemployed, enabling qualified individuals to get back to work.

They key vehicle for making that change? Predictive analytics.

It’s now recognized that the use of predictive analytics can surface powerful conclusions from disparate data sources that can, in turn, serve as the catalyst to foster change in business culture, improve hiring and management practices, and enable more Americans to find gainful employment in fulfilling roles. In my own experience at Evolv, just one of the harmful hiring biases we’ve used predictive analytics to debunk is that “People who haven’t worked recently aren’t viable candidates.” Our technology platform looked across millions of data points on employees across our customer network to prove that the long term unemployed perform no worse than those without an extended jobless spell and have empowered our clients (including several of the companies that supported this week’s legislation) to hire those candidates using a predictive score based on this same technology. We hope this finding in particular helps that 32 percent get that interview, that call back – that chance to show employers that they too, can be great additions to a team.

However, even with plenty of data to back up conclusions like this, many people fear and resist the use of big data and predictive analytics in employment practices. Images of robot recruiters with a marked lack of empathy or a dystopian society like the one in George Orwell’s “1984” come to mind. While much of the public conversation focuses on very real problems associated with big data (think NSA), the technology and political spheres have a tremendous opportunity to join forces to solve real human problems.

What’s missing from the current conversation is practical dialogue about how predictive analytics can be the catalyst for impactful partnerships between policy makers and businesses – for example how big data provides insights that destroy stereotypes when it comes to hiring. We are beyond simply “hacking” societal problems and must move toward progressive and actionable steps to change the way we conduct business on a larger scale. The technology industry must partner with America’s leaders to apply innovation to outdated processes that harm our economy’s growth, e.g. leaving millions of Americans out of meaningful work.

Some organizations are already doing great work connecting data science to social good. Kaggle is empowering data scientists to solve for challenges like decoding the human brain, classifying forest categories or predicting survival in disasters. Code for America enables skilled technologists to utilize their skills to impact their local governments by updating outdated sites and creating apps to meet community needs. Even academia has partnered with technology for impactful problem solving; Eric & Wendy Schmidt’s Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship is currently incubating its first class of do-good data scientists. But there is much more to be done.

Placing hope in predictive analytics isn’t just blind optimism, however. For example companies who use big data and predictive analytics to alter their management practices can significantly and simultaneously improve the health of their business. In the case of Xerox, one of the companies actively engaged in the push to hire the long-term unemployed, data showed that their prior practice of hiring based on previous work experience in a similar role didn’t necessarily predict success in that candidate’s new job at Xerox. When they opened up new doors for candidates who would previously never have gotten to interview based upon their resume, Xerox then hired more people who were better suited to their job and reduced attrition rates by 20 percent, allowing the company to pocket the otherwise wasted money connected with those who left shortly after onboarding and put workers in best suited roles.

Xerox’s example is just one of the many surrounding how technology and business have worked to impact a societal problem — the possibilities are endless. How can we in business, government and technology work together to solve more human problems — and at greater volumes? Predictive analytics is at once the platform and the catalyst. I hope other leaders look at this week’s report and act. Find ways to use today’s predictive technology capabilities to actively hire candidates who have nontraditional backgrounds but who can also prove (via other signals not found on a resume) that they can and will be successful in the job — especially those who have been unemployed for a long period of time. Using predictive analytics in this way, we can help make better decisions and change the way we work in this country for better.

Carl Tsukahara is responsible for marketing and product strategy at Evolv.

‘The Shift’: BYO Brings a Big Challenge to the Software Community

ajleon/Flickr

There was a time not too long ago when web sites and web applications prescribed directions on how each should be sourced to be properly viewed and utilized. For example, on many sites there was a banner that would proclaim that this application or website should be viewed using a certain browser and a specific version of that browser.

Over the past 10 years those banners have slowly disappeared. Instead, we are now faced with “The Shift,” where users dictate how they want to use the applications and websites. Evidence of “The Shift” can be seen across the enterprise, from BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to BYOBI (Bring Your Own Business Intelligence). While a seemingly small change, “The Shift” can pose a giant challenge for the software community.

In the good old days, software developers had to create, test and validate that their application or website worked on a prescribed browser. The responsibility was on the user to then ensure they had the right browser and only accessed the app or website using the proper source. This meant the software developers’ and testers’ task was relatively simpler, having to only design programs for a well-defined, finite combination of target browsers. Unfortunately, those days are gone.

Today applications and websites live in a very competitive space. They have to not only work on a range of browsers, in varying versions, but also through any mobile platform (which includes device, OS, browser and network combinations) that the user selects. If the applications or websites do not function to the user’s expectation in any of these various combinations, they can easily be lost to competitors.

One of the common strategies developers and testers now deploy to maintain a competitive edge is to rely on application usage analytics. From these analytics, information can be gathered on the distribution of use and can then be applied to target development and testing for specific browser versions and mobile platforms. Frequently analytics reports show heavily concentrated use on a few select popular mobile platforms and a long tail of usage distribution among others. However, making decisions on concentrating development and testing efforts only on the heavily used mobile platforms is dangerous. This could leave out select groups of users — like early adopters who may be moving to a new device or laggards who tend to linger on older devices.

Usage analytics also may not reflect any external events that could affect the market. A new product introduction such as Samsung Galaxy S5 or an iPhone 6 can shift usage dramatically to new devices, and software versions. Most developers and testers are not aware of upcoming releases of devices, OS updates, browser changes and other elements that are critical to their users. Even if there is a level of awareness, not everyone has the means and abilities to procure all of these ahead of time to test and validate their applications. This can inhibit the success of an application or website based on its potentially lowered useability and overall compatibility.

So what is the right strategy to release relevant and configurable applications amidst “The Shift”? In order to reach the comprehensive market of consumer, developers and testers need to use a multi-pronged approach to research their target devices, OS and browsers. An increase in cognitive analysis on the developer level needs to go into this rather than a dependency on product managers or business analysts to prescribe target web and mobile platforms.

A new global product roadmap needs to be created by enterprises to ensure changes that are external to the enterprise are captured and planned for. A good understanding of device, OS, browser and network changes and when they are planned, is essential preparation. Once this information is known, testing in those new mobile platforms should be planned either before the release either using real mobile platforms or emulation (only when it is not available). Combining this with a better insight into current usage analytics will help ready apps for user consumption.

Raj Rao is VP and global head of Software Quality at NTT DATA.

Meet the Rebels in These Awesome New Hunger Games Posters

Cressida (Natalie Dormer) Lionsgate

Cressida (Natalie Dormer)

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Gale (Liam Hemsworth) Lionsgate

Gale (Liam Hemsworth)

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Cressida (Natalie Dormer) Lionsgate

Cressida (Natalie Dormer)

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Messalla (Evan Ross) Lionsgate

Messalla (Evan Ross)

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Boggs (Mahershala)

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Boggs (Mahershala)

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Castor (Wes Chatham) Lionsgate

Castor (Wes Chatham)

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Pollux (Elden Henson) Lionsgate

Pollux (Elden Henson)

Lionsgate

If there’s anything fans of The Hunger Games know, it’s that advertising is propaganda with a nicer name. So in promoting the film franchise’s next installment, Mockingjay—Part 1, it is appropriate that the marketing onslaught look and feel like the message war that plays out as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her fellow Panem revolutionaries rally to take on the Capitol.

The latest installment is a series of slick “Rebel Warriors” posters. Readers of Mockingjay will remember Katniss, having been rescued from the Hunger Games arena at the end of Catching Fire, was taken to the underground enclave of District 13 to lead Panem’s revolt. These Rebel Warriors posters depict the soldiers and film production crew who join Katniss after she vows to lead the revolution as the Mockingjay (as seen in the film’s first trailer). There’s Cressida (Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer), the propaganda documentary director; Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Katniss’ longtime friend and fellow Capitol-hater; Messalla (Evan Ross), Cressida’s assistant; Boggs (Mahershala Ali), Katniss’ bodyguard of sorts; and Castor (Wes Chatham) and Pollux (Elden Henson), who—if their characters follow the book—are brothers and Cressida’s cameramen.

The posters are something of a tide-shift in Mockingjay’s marketing. These images are being released after a series of in-universe (and super-creepy) promos like the “together as one” TV address from President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and images of Panem’s “Heroes.” And, following the way the rebels respond to the propaganda from the Capitol in the books, the posters are coming on the heels of a video showing that Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) interrupted one of Snow’s addresses to announce “the Mockingjay lives” and after a series of Capitol billboards appeared to be vandalized with Mockingjay graffiti in various cities. Clearly, the latest marketing push is all about showing how the rebels are hacking their way to a revolution.

This is the point where the line between marketing and symbolism from the Hunger Games meet. Just as the lead-up to Catching Fire was littered with “Capitol Couture” and Victory Tour ads, this one evokes the guerrilla tactics the rebels might use to spread the word that fire is catching. Cue up a four-note whistle and put three fingers in the air.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 hits theaters Nov. 21.